


Crossing Lines

by Pigzxo



Series: You Can't Fuck Your Friends As A Joke [4]
Category: Riverdale (TV 2017)
Genre: Asexual Character, Fluff and Angst, M/M, Omorashi, Watersports, also featuring jughead and betty as the best friends ever, and side beronica b/c i'm trash quite frankly, could have been rated teen if the next tag wasn't, i don't really know what else to tell you, like tooth-rotting fluff, terrible communication skills
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-09
Updated: 2017-02-09
Packaged: 2018-09-22 12:49:19
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,915
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9608264
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pigzxo/pseuds/Pigzxo
Summary: Archie crossed a line, so Jughead crosses a line. Maybe it's not the most "mature" way to handle things, but Jughead's not willing to accept an apology just yet.





	

Jughead made a non-committal sound at the question Veronica had asked. It had been something about shoes... or handbags... he wasn’t really listening. He fiddled with the lock on his locker, not really intending to open it. He had all his books for his first classes – too much homework over the weekend had, at the very least, one perk – and had mostly been heading to his locker to get away from her.

            He turned to face her, narrowed his eyes and tried to figure out what Archie saw in her. He wasn’t blind. He knew Veronica was aesthetically pleasing – dark hair, dark eyes, red lips, caramel skin – but he couldn’t find the attraction. He never could but it was a way to waste time when he didn’t want to participate in conversations.

            Reggie walked past them, his hand raised. Jughead, due to some Neanderthal instinct, high-fived him without hesitation. “You tap that!” Reggie shouted. Jughead smiled through his grimace.

            Veronica frowned. “What was that?”

            Jughead shrugged. “If you expect to explain every idiotic thing that Reggie does, we could be here for a while.”

            She gave him a look, one of her patented ones. He thought this one was _now, dear, I know you’re lying to me_ but because he’d never paid much attention it could also be _you smell funny_. Veronica snapped in his face. “Jughead. What did Reggie mean?”

            Jughead rolled his eyes and let himself sag against the lockers. “I might have accidentally told him that we’re sleeping together behind Archie’s back.”

            Veronica hit him on the arm. “Accidentally? How do you accidentally tell someone that?”

            “It was a joke!”

            She sighed and crossed her arms. “Well, for future reference, I prefer not to be part of your little jokes. You better straighten this out with him before it gets back to Archie.”

            “Archie knows.”

            Archie, unfortunately, chose that exact moment to show up. “I know what?”

            Veronica hit him too. “Jughead told Reggie he’s sleeping with me and you did nothing to fix it?”

            Archie opened his mouth and no words came out. Jughead exhaled a laugh. Turning to him, Archie hit him again, in the same spot, and said, “Don’t worry. I’ll deal with him.”

            Veronica humphed and headed off.

            Archie turned to take her spot in front of Jughead as he rubbed his arm.

            “What is with you two and hitting?” Jughead said. He kept his eyes on his arm, half because it hurt and half because he still wasn’t sure whether or not he wanted to look at Archie. “Seriously. Like, I get it if you wanna beat on each other in the bedroom, but bringing unsuspecting outsiders into your weird sadomasochistic lifestyle is—”

            “Jughead.”

            Jughead bit his bottom lip, hesitated, and then looked up with a bright smile. He knew the whole expression looked sarcastic. He hoped it did. He hoped it hurt, a lot. And he hated himself a little for hoping that. Or a lot. “What’s up, Arch?”

            “I just wanted to see how you’re doing.”

            “I’m alive and kicking.”

            Archie sighed. “I mean about Friday night.”

            Jughead looked away, shrugged. Purposefully misunderstanding, he said, “It sucks going to the movies alone, mostly because people look at you like you’re weird and lonely, but people do that to me anyways, so it wasn’t really a big deal. No lesbians, so you dodged a bullet. And I think my French is getting better because I didn’t have to rely on the subtitles too much, so that was cool.”

            “You know what I meant.”

            “I do?”

            Archie licked his lips and met Jughead’s eyes. “Look, I get that I crossed a line and that it made you uncomfortable and I’m really sorry about that. But I don’t know what to do about it other than apologize.”

            Letting out a shaky laugh, Jughead forced himself to smile. “It’s not really about that. It should be but... I don’t care. I really don’t. I just...” Part of Jughead wanted to tell Archie everything, the whole truth, but even if he could have, this wasn’t the time or place. He shook his head. “I’m really mad about this. And I know you don’t get it and that’s okay. But like the thing with Reggie, where you needed me to trust you, I need you to trust me on this.”

            “That was a violation, Jug.”

            “And talking about sucking my dick wasn’t?”

            Archie ran a hand through his hair. His eyes were wet and his lips pursed. “I’m sorry.”

            “I don’t think that’s enough.”

            “It’s been two whole days,” Archie said. “You can’t still be mad at me over this.”

            “But I am.”

            “Whatever.” Archie stepped away. “I have to take a piss.”

            Jughead bit down on the side of his tongue. Then, just before Archie could take another step, he said, “You know what? Don’t.”

            Archie stopped. “Don’t what?”

            “Pee. Don’t pee, Arch.” Jughead threw up his hands. “I’m telling you not to pee.”

            Archie closed the space between them fast, nearly slammed Jughead back into the lockers. Rage lit his brown eyes. “Okay, first of all, quiet the fuck down and second of all, where do you get off telling me not to take a goddamn piss?”

            “I don’t know.” Jughead shrugged. “Where do I get off?”

            “I thought the point was that you didn’t want to get off.” Archie held his glare steady for a long moment and then shook his head. “I’m not in the mood for this.”

            “Then walk away.”

            For some reason Jughead wasn’t really sure of, Archie hesitated. “You can’t do this.”

            “Do what?” Jughead crossed his arms and refused to look away from Archie. He had never seen his best friend so mad, not even when he’d first admitted to wanting a girl and Jughead had spent half an hour tearing that girl to shreds. Jughead took a deep breath and held his ground. “I made a request. If you don’t wanna do it, tell me I’ve crossed a line and don’t do it. Or is that too hard? Telling me when I’ve crossed a line?”

            Archie nearly split his lip in half. And Jughead, he should have known his friend better. He should have known such an open challenge wouldn’t go unmet. Archie shrugged, fast and far from nonchalant. “So what? You just don’t want me to pee anymore? Until when?”

            “End of the day.”

            “End of the... You’re kidding. No way I can hold it that long.”

            “Then go now.” Jughead fixed Archie with his best _I don’t give a shit_ look. “See if I care.”

            “Of course you’ll care.”

            Jughead pulled a face. “Will I?”

            Archie was positively brimming with anger now. His cheeks had gone a little red and he was grinding his teeth. “So you just want me not to pee for the rest of the day?”

            “Well, I don’t _want_...” Jughead reconsidered and took a step closer to Archie. It gratified him in ways he couldn’t quite understand when Archie took a step back. “Actually, no, you know what? I do want. This is something I _want_ , Archie. Are you capable of doing something for me or is that just a little too hard for you?”

            “You’re an asshole.”

            “Takes one to know one.”

            Archie huffed out a breath. Then he slammed his hand hard into the lockers and stormed off, not towards the bathrooms.

            Jughead leaned back against the rattling metal and closed his eyes for a second. His heart pounded too hard, adrenaline heavy in his blood. He had no idea why he had just done that. He had no idea what the fuck he was trying to prove. But, as the bell rang, he realized he didn’t have time to dwell on it. What was done was done.

 

Jughead sat through lunch with his eyes on his laptop. He exuded a stony silence which made sure no one bothered him. Even Archie, squirming across the picnic table, couldn’t catch his eye. Occasionally, Jughead’s eyes would wander to Archie’s shaking knees under the table and he’d feel a sick surge of pleasure, of power, but he always tore his eyes away before Archie could notice. That wasn’t the point of this. That is, if this had a point.

            Archie left the table quickly, his heavy breath betraying how mad he was. Veronica followed after him and Kevin was pulled away, somewhat unwillingly, by Moose. Which left Betty, sitting beside him chewing on a single fry, and trying to figure out what the hell was going on.

            “You and Archie have a fight?” she asked.

            “None of your business, Bets.”

            She shot him a glance, curious but not mad. Betty was never mad. “What’s up with you two? I know you’ve always had your secrets that you keep from me but lately it seems like you have more than usual.”

            Jughead snorted.

            “Hey.” She bumped her shoulder into his, smiled. “You know you can tell me anything, right?”

            “I’m not really allowed to tell you this.”

            “I’m sure Archie won’t mind. And if he does, well, I’ll keep my mouth zipped shut.” Betty nudged him again, shifted closer on the bench, and Jughead couldn’t help but smile back. She said, “I’m pretty good at fixing problems.”

            “I kind of already told you about this one,” he said. He looked up from his laptop to meet her eyes. “You didn’t believe me.”

            Betty gave him a look, a _please stop fucking with me_ look. “You can’t actually expect me to believe that Archie—”

            Jughead quirked an eyebrow at her, then looked away. He didn’t want to see her blanche. He didn’t want to see the shock, the worry, the confusion cross her face. Betty was good intentions wrapped in a pretty pink package but she wasn’t cut out for this conversation. He wasn’t even sure Veronica was cut out for this conversation.

            “Wow. You’re not kidding. But I thought... You know what? None of my business. Really, none of my business...” She took a deep breath. “But... if you need to talk about it, let’s talk. You and Archie. What... went wrong?”

            Jughead almost hugged her before he thought better of it. She was willing to help, but she still looked uncomfortable. So Jughead went for the PG-13 version of the story. “We were making out and he started to say some things that he wanted to do to me and I... panicked and made it worse and then ran and this morning, when he tried to apologize to me, I got mad and told him he couldn’t pee for the rest of the day.”

            Betty blinked. “What?”

            “It’s a weird power play thing that he’s into.” Jughead cracked a smile. “Honestly, you dodged a bullet.”

            She shook her head, the edge of a smile on her lips. “Okay. So, if that’s the case, then you’re mad at him because he crossed some sort of line? And as punishment you crossed a line with him?”

            “Not punishment. More to prove that he has trouble admitting where the lines are drawn.”

            “That’s really childish.”

            “I don’t think watersports are childish.”

            Betty bit her bottom lip and Jughead could tell that was something she had never wanted to hear come out of his mouth. He tried really hard not to laugh at her and failed. Then Betty was laughing too and holding on to his arm and burying her face in his shoulder breathlessly. He leaned over and kissed the top of her head.

            “Sorry,” he said. “You didn’t need to know this.”

            “It’s okay. I’m happy to help.” Betty pulled away and took a deep breath. “But, just to be clear, you’re sure you’re mad because he crossed a line?”

            No, no, he wasn’t. But he said, “Why else would I be mad?”

            Betty shrugged. “Maybe you’re mad that he wanted to cross a line.” She met Jughead’s eyes and shrugged sadly. “You and Archie have been best friends for a long time. And I can’t imagine that doing this with him is easy for you, for either of you. So maybe you’re not mad that he said some dirty things but you’re mad because he might have meant them.”

            Jughead stared at her for a long moment. He felt like a weight had been dropped on his chest and he couldn’t quite breathe right. A minute passed, maybe two, then he nodded. “Right. Okay. We’re done with that. Let’s... You know what? Tell me something sappy and disgusting about you and Veronica. To get my mind off of it.”

            Betty laughed. “You sure you want to hear it?”

            “Of course I don’t,” he said, “but you listened to my bullshit, so I’ll listen to yours.”

            Betty smiled and started to speak. Jughead listened to most of it, a smile on his face to mirror Betty’s. In that moment, he forgot everything that was happening between him and Archie. Instead, he sunk easily back into his role as complainee and half listened to other people’s relationship problems without being expected to offer any insight.

 

Jughead did his best to avoid Archie for the rest of the day and, for the most part, Archie was happy to help him out. The glances he did catch of the redhead were awkward. Archie shifting from foot to foot as he spoke to Reggie. Archie grimacing as Veronica touched his chest. Archie almost entering the bathroom and then turning around. He caught Jughead’s eye that time, must have seen whatever fear had been laid out in his friend’s eyes, but he walked away all the same.

            It was in the locker room that things went wrong. Jughead thought that, for sure, he was in the clear. Archie was as mad, if not madder, at him than he was at Archie. So if he dilly-dallied in the locker room, if he waited for everyone to move out before he changed like always, then there was no chance of confronting Archie.

            Except that, of course, Archie knew him well. And Archie hung back too as everyone filed out of the locker room and was greeted by the sound of the Coach’s whistle. Jughead was about to pull his shirt over his head when he saw Archie sitting on one of the benches, his hands hanging between his legs, his expression blank and pleading. Jughead licked his lips and looked away.

            “Do you want to tell me what’s wrong?” Archie said, voice soft.

            Jughead leaned his forehead against the lockers, curled his hands into fists. He could walk out. He could skip gym and avoid Archie and walk right out of the school if he wanted to. But he needed to do this. So he turned around to face his friend with a sad look in his eyes and about as much confidence as he’d had at his third grade speech tournament.

            “I know I crossed a line. I said sorry. I’m playing this ridiculous game for you and I don’t really know what it’s supposed to prove, but I’m doing it. But it really doesn’t seem to be fixing anything.”

            “It wasn’t supposed to fix anything,” Jughead admitted. He stepped closer and took a seat at the bench across from Archie. “I was just being petty. I’m sorry.”

            “Accepted.” Archie’s brown eyes scanned Jughead. “I’d feel better if you told me why.”

            Jughead met his best friend’s eyes and licked his lips. “I don’t think we should do this anymore.”

            “What?”

            “We need to stop everything. No more kissing or touching or vibrators. No nothing.” Jughead hadn’t realized he had dropped Archie’s gaze until he caught sight of his black high tops. He couldn’t look back at him. “We stop. Right now. No dramatics, no break-ups, no one last time. Cold turkey.”

            Archie let out a heavy breath. “Why?”

            Jughead shook his head. “I didn’t say I’d explain.”

            “You didn’t say you wouldn’t.”

            Jughead bit his lip, stayed silent.

            “Jughead.” Archie’s voice was sharp, exasperated. He reached out and jostled Jughead’s shoulder. “What the hell? I thought things were going well.”

            “For you. Things were going well for you.”

            Silence filled the room, heavy enough to put pressure on Jughead’s chest. Once again, he thought about running – from this situation, from the school, from Archie. But his legs felt like led and his heart had stopped beating.

            “If this is about Friday night,” Archie said, voice so soft that Jughead had to look up. Mistake. Archie’s eyes were wide and wet and desperate. A look Jughead had never seen on his best friend before, had never wanted to see. Archie swallowed and went on, “Nothing like that ever has to happen again. I don’t need you to touch me. I don’t need you to kiss me. I won’t say anything like that ever again.”

            “But you’ll want to.”

            “What?”

            Jughead took a deep breath and tried to smile away the tears in his eyes. “You’ll want me to touch you. You’ll want me to kiss you. You’ll want to do all those things that you talked about and I... I can’t give you any of that.”

            “What are you talking about?”

            “I’m asexual! And aromantic! I’m not ever going to want to have sex with you or date you or hold your fucking hand! I’m never going to love you, Archie.” Jughead closed his eyes tight against the tears, breathed. “I just... I really, really don’t understand what you want from me. Because you have to know that I can’t give you any of it.”

            Archie tried hard to smile but it faltered on his lips. “Jughead, I...” He shook his head, then got up and knelt in front of Jughead. “Look, I love you. I’m going to love you whether you love me back or not. And I’m going to want you in ways that you can’t want me. But I don’t think that means we have to give this up.”

            “Give what up, Archie? What are we giving up? Because we’re not having sex and we’re not in a relationship, so... what is there to give up?”

            Archie hesitated and then slowly took Jughead’s hands in his. He looked up at him with a serious expression. “We’re not sexual and we’re not romantic, but we are best friends. And we... well, I, at least, have feelings for you that go a lot deeper than just friends. We’re not ever going to be a conventional couple but we do have something between us. Something that I don’t want to give up on.”

            Jughead looked down at their intertwined hands, felt the pressure of Archie’s palms against his. He shook his head. “But I can’t give you any of the things that you need. I’m just going to frustrate you and push you away and you’re going to get tired of it. Very fast. So I think it’s best that we stop this before things go too far and you fall in love with me and I can’t say it back and you end up hating me forever. Because I really wouldn’t be able to stand that, Archie. If you hated me. If I hurt you like that.”

            “You’re not going to hurt me,” Archie said. “I know everything about you. I understand that you don’t feel the same way that I do. And if you really want to end this, whatever it is, I’ll understand that too. But we’re not exclusive. I’ll find other people to have sex with and other people to love me. Veronica. Betty.”

            “Then what do you need me for?” Jughead said it so soft he kind of hoped Archie didn’t hear him. He hated looking down at the top of his friend’s head, begging him not to love him. But there was nothing else he could do, even if he could feel his own heart breaking with every word he said.

            “I looked some things up. And some ace aro people are in companionate relationships. Nothing sexual, nothing romantic, just... companionship.” Archie squeezed his hands and dropped his eyes. “I know it’s a lot to ask but I’d be really happy if you might want to do that with me.”

            Jughead licked his lips. He took his hands back, tried to look okay when Archie met his eyes again. But he knew he didn’t, knew he couldn’t hide anything from the man below him. “Why? You can find someone a lot better for you than me. You can find someone you’ll actually have the balls to walk down the school halls with. So why would we do that, Arch? How long can you really see something like that lasting?”

            “For the rest of my life.”

            Jughead blinked. “What?”

            “You like kids, right?” Archie smiled. “We could buy a house together and have separate bedrooms and adopt a couple of kids. We’ll carpool to work and I’ll tell you I love you and you’ll smile like an idiot. Betty can babysit.”

            Jughead laughed a little, couldn’t swallow his smile. “Betty would probably be their mother.”

            Archie laughed too. He took one of Jughead’s hands again. “We can grow old together. Be like those grumpy old men in terrible sitcoms. Our kids will visit with the grandkids. I’ll sleep around on you and you’ll spend a lot of time writing and banging on the walls telling me to quiet down.”

            “We could get a bigger house and Betty and Veronica could move in with us, help take care of the kids. We could be modern as all fuck.”

            “You think Betty and Veronica would agree to be my concubines?”

            “No. But if we’re a couple and they’re a couple—”

            “Betty and Veronica?”

            Jughead screwed up his face. “This is why you’re still my clueless straight friend.”

            Archie smiled wide and got to his feet. He offered Jughead his hand. “Does that sound like a good deal to you?”

            Jughead nodded.

            Archie dropped his hand. “Then let’s get going. Coach isn’t going to let us get away with skipping class forever, you know.”

            “One last thing,” Jughead said. He stood and looked up into brown eyes. He planted a kiss against Archie’s lips – chaste, quick, a promise of something he didn’t think he’d ever promise – and then slapped him on the cheek. Smiling, he said, “Think I can use this as an excuse to get out of gym? I’m sorry, my best friend just confessed that he wants to spend the rest of his life with me and I’m too happy to ruin it with pull-ups right now.”

            Archie laughed and kissed him back. Tentatively, he reached up his hands to touch Jughead’s cheeks. “Is this okay?” he said, leaning their foreheads together. “Because I never want you to push yourself for me. From now on, only do things that you really want to do.”

            “I will. I promise.”

            The look on Archie’s face softened. Suddenly, Jughead could see that Archie had been worried about all this for a lot longer than he’d been. The lines on Archie’s face disappeared, the strain of his smile fell away, and a heady, relaxed look overtook him. He brushed a thumb over Jughead’s lower lip and then stepped away.

            “One more question?”

            Jughead nodded.

            “Can I pee now?”

            Jughead burst out laughing. “Please do.”

            Archie headed for the toilet stalls but stopped right before he turned the corner. “I love you, Jug.”

            And, as predicted, Jughead couldn’t stop himself from smiling like an idiot.

**Author's Note:**

> So this is going to be the last part in this series! Thank you all for reading and taking the time to comment, it means a lot to me <3 I'm still writing and there'll probably be more for this ship at some point, so stay tuned!


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